The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
by Isycat
Summary: Heidi West expected her 6th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to be mundane... except with the Marauders around it was anything but!
1. Chapter 1

**The Thin Line Between Love and Hate  
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**Chapter 1**

I stared out of the window of my carriage waiting for my friends to come in, I had already said goodbye to my parents and now I was regretting the decision to actually be early for the train. There was obviously no point if it meant that you had to wait around for 20 minutes by yourself for everyone else.

However I took the peace as an opportunity to watch the scene outside the window as everyone on the platform rushed around in a blur of movement and activity. Parents saying their goodbyes to their children, pupils hauling massive trunks onto the train, friends greeting each other enthusiastically, an escaped toad hopped around the platform as an anxious first year stumbled after it knocking people over and-

"Heidi!" A loud voice interrupted my observations and the tranquillity within the carriage, jolting me from where I had been leaning against the window and causing me to hit my head on the glass.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, ready to berate whoever had shouted at me. However, I looked over to see one of my best friends Susan Jones looking excited and her already dark skin looked incredibly tanned from her holiday in Italy. I forgot my annoyance with being interrupted almost immediately, because I hadn't seen Suze in 6 weeks, and jumped up to hug her.

"Sorry," She apologized for what I'm sure was now a small red lump on my head as we sat down across from each other. "I'm just so excited to see you again, I have so much to tell you!"

"It's alright," I said truthfully, it didn't actually hurt as much as I had originally thought. "I missed you so much. How was Italy?"

Suze opened her mouth to reply but was cut off as our other friend Lily Evans came in, relatively calmly for her, and sat down next to me.

"Heidi! Suze!" Lily smiled widely "I'm so glad I found you first, I was sure I was going to be harassed by Potter like last year, do you remember what he did? It took me at least 3 hours to get my hair back to its normal colour after that!" Ah yes, James Potter, the bane of Lily's existence, I suspected she rather liked the attention but was now so used to complaining it had been almost a habit. "Oh sorry," Lily suddenly apologized, her face changing from full on rant-at-Potter mode to one of regret. "I told myself I wasn't going to let Potter rule me this year, I'm going to ignore him as much as possible." Lily's face was determined although I couldn't help but feel a little unsure, she had said the same thing every year after all and even though we were now in our 6th year I doubted anything would change.

Suze was obviously thinking along the same lines as me, judging by the look she gave me, I decided that someone should probably point out what we were all thinking to Lily, it was getting slightly repetitive after all, "you've said that for the past 5 years though Lil."

Lily's determined face crumpled "You're right," she conceded "unfortunately no matter how hard I try, he's never left me alone before, why should this year be any different?" She seemed so dejected at that moment, a sharp contrast to her resolute attitude before, that I felt sorry for her.

Almost as if he knew we were talking about him, James Potter and his cronies, otherwise known as the Marauders, opened the compartment door and walked in as if they owned the place.

Well, James Potter and Sirius Black did anyway, Remus Lupin walked calmly behind, slightly lacking the arrogance of the other two and Peter Pettigrew trailed in timidly. I never really understood how overconfident people like Potter and Black could possibly have anything in common with Pettigrew and it had always felt to me like they only kept him around for the ego boost it gave them.

James Potter sat down across from Lily, next to Suze, and immediately his Quidditch Captain Badge glinted from where it was pinned on his jumper and he ran a hand through his messy, thick, black hair, causing Lily, who had previously been sitting there obviously trying to stick to her declaration of silence, to scowl menacingly at him.

Black also seemed oblivious to the obvious tension in the room and sat down next to Potter, his black hair contrasted to Potter's because it had a casual elegance which Potter's could only dream of and caused most of the female population of the school to fancy him. Black smirked at me and Lily who were sitting across from him and then he looked at me.

"West," he greeted in a friendly way, apart from the use of my last name, it was as if we were friends "had a good summer?" Out of the corner of my eye I could see Suze and Lily exchange glances, when had Black become interested in what I had to say?

"Erm," I replied very intelligently. I was confused as to why he was talking specifically to me, we may have been in the same year and house for 5 years but, as Lily and James' best friends, we had never had any reason to interact and therefore tended to pay no attention to each other. "It was fine thanks." I knew Lily would be disappointed that I was being civil to Black, Potter's partner in crime, but the truth was that I had no reason to dislike Black. Maybe he was arrogant and overconfident with a tendency to bully Slytherins, but he had never actually done anything to me personally.

"Oh great," Black smiled warmly in return, as if my answer was the best thing in the world, bringing out the handsome features which had girls around the school drooling over him "what did you do?"

I was just about to tell him something about my holiday in Wales because when a handsome boy is taking an interest in you it seems only natural to want to try to respond normally, unless you're Lily Evans of course.

Lily abruptly interrupted our conversation. "Excuse me, what the hell are you doing?" Despite the fact Black was the one speaking she directed most of her anger towards Potter as she raised her voice, causing even Remus Lupin, who had been intently reading his book, to look up.

Potter smirked, clearly pleased they had provoked her into responding "sitting in my seat, currently talking to you." He told her calmly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world, in fact if he hadn't smirked then the expression on his face would have made him look completely innocent.

"But why are you in our compartment?" Lily pressed on "And that's not your seat, go somewhere else, I want to sit with my friends."

For a fraction of a second I could've sworn I saw a flicker of hurt pass across Potter's face at the implication that they weren't friends, but as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

"Well," Potter responded slightly childishly "If you want to sit with your friends and I want to sit with mine, which is what we're doing by the way, why can't we do it together?" The teasing tone in Potter's voice took on a hopeful edge towards the end.

Lily seemed to either not notice the genuine feelings behind his façade or ignore them completely. "No way." She said firmly.

"Oh come on Evans," this time it was Black who spoke "by now all the other compartments will be full and it's not as if it's a squash to fit us in here, what else would fill the space? Think of it as economising."

I could see Lily struggling to be mad with Black, it appeared she only became irrationally angry around Potter, but then again that had always been the case.

"Fine," Suze and I looked at her in surprise- she had relented? "but if you cause the slightest amount of trouble you're out."

The smile on Potter's face was almost blinding and even I could tell he was about to say something stupid, which would definitely get them kicked out, Black saw it too and quickly whispered something in Potter's ear, causing the foolish expression on Potter's face to disappear.

"Thanks Lily," the unusual use of Lily's first name by Black caused her to narrow her eyes in suspicion but she didn't say anything.

For at least 15 minutes we all sat there awkwardly in silence, I knew Potter was dying to talk to Lily, but the look on Black's face stopped him. By this point I was annoyed, this wasn't how I'd planned the reunion with my friends, I had so much I wanted to discuss but couldn't with the Marauders being there.

Lily had obviously become bored with the silence too. "So Heidi," she said quite loudly, "how was Wales?"

I knew everyone in the compartment was listening to what I had to say and hated situations like this, despite being put in Gryffindor for some reason, I could be painfully shy. "Well erm," I began "it was very nice, we stayed near Cardigan and visited the beach every day."

"Cardigan?" Black questioned "What do you mean?"

Suze sighed, speaking for the first time since Black and Potter had come in "it's a town in west Wales, Black."

"Oh, right," Black looking dejected.

"Who did you go with?" He appeared to recover his confidence and continued with his disconcerting new found interest in me.

"My parents and my younger brother. Why do you ask?" I questioned, gaining enough confidence to actually ask why he was suddenly so curious about my life.

"Well," Black paused "I just thought that we'd been in the same house and year and everything for 5 years but I don't know anything about you."

"Ok but why just me, why not Suze as well, you haven't asked her anything yet?" I had obviously caught Lily's suspicious approach when it came to Black and Potter.

I saw Suze glance worriedly at Black and became very confused. "What have I missed?" I asked, my confusion overcoming my shyness. Lily was also looking between Suze and Black with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Oh nothing, you're right." Black admitted not very convincingly but I decided to leave it for Suze's sake, making a mental note to ask her about what was going on later.

"How was your holiday?" Black asked Suze in a very stiff voice.

"It was fine." Suze replied equally monotonously "I went to Italy."

"Oh, that explains the tan." The whole conversation was very stilted and forced; nothing like the warm curiosity Black had shown to me a moment ago.

There was silence again, except this time it was even more awkward than before because Lily and I were confused and annoyed at being kept out of the loop and Suze and Black seemed to be very uncomfortable. Potter had been sitting there quietly for once but he didn't seem particularly surprised by the interaction between Suze and Black. Lupin and Pettigrew were watching and they looked slightly confused, so perhaps they didn't know what was going on either, although Pettigrew's usual expression was of confusion so it was quite hard for me to tell the difference.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The rest of the journey was very uneventful and quite boring really, usually when the Marauders are around the least you can expect is excitement, you can also expect mayhem followed by panic or laughter, but this train ride seemed very dull in comparison.

As usual, I rode in a carriage pulled by the invisible creatures up to the castle with Lily and Suze, although I didn't get the chance to discuss anything I really wanted to, so I decided to wait until we were in our dormitory later.

We arrived in the great hall where we were all eagerly anticipating the sorting ceremony. It was incredible to think I was now in my 6th year already, it seemed as if my own sorting into Gryffindor had only been yesterday...

_We all waited nervously in the Entrance Hall outside the Great Hall where Professor McGonagall had left us, I was standing with Suze and another girl called Kate who I had met on the train. Even though I was a half-blood (my father was a wizard) I had never asked him what happened at the sorting so I was just as terrified as the rest of them, all of us stood there in almost complete silence, imagining what could possibly be beyond those doors. I wished I had asked my father more about what was going to happen, although he had told me rather a lot about Hogwarts, especially in the weeks building up to my arrival, he had obviously left some things out for me discover for myself. Such as the ghosts, they shocked us all when about twenty or so suddenly swept into the room, appearing through the wall at the back. _

_Before we could get any more frightened Professor McGonagall appeared again and told us sternly to follow her. We all shuffled quietly through, even the two noisy boys who had been teasing a red haired girl and a skinny boy had gone very quiet and looked quite scared._

_The sorting commenced, I remember standing there while everyone else was sorted, and most of them blurred into the next, although a few caught my attention. _

_Black, Sirius had by far the most dramatic reception. He was one of the confident boys who had been teasing the girl and boy, but he spent a long time up there with the sorting hat on his head and seemed to be almost arguing with it. When he was eventually sorted there was almost complete silence throughout the Hall as he walked to his seat, which was very strange considering the last few sorting had received loud cheers. I heard some of the whispers passing through the Great Hall seemed to be saying that Blacks were always in Slytherin and his sorting into Gryffindor was therefore very unexpected._

_Evans, Lily, was sorted into Gryffindor, which seemed to disappoint the thin boy she had been standing with, judging from the way his posture dropped considerably and a scowl came onto his face. The boy- Snape, Severus-later got sorted into Slytherin which didn't surprise me very much from what I'd heard about Slytherin._

_Out of my two friends from the train, Suze got sorted into Gryffindor and Kate into Ravenclaw. Potter, James, the other boy who Black had been teasing Lily and Snape with, got sorted into Gryffindor as well and went over to join Black._

_I stood there anxiously awaiting my turn, as the name 'West' put me almost last, just before Zabini, Vincent. I knew my father had been in Hufflepuff, so I wouldn't mind that house too much, I supposed Ravenclaw or Gryffindor wouldn't be too bad either, as my two friends that I'd met on the train had gone there and they seemed perfectly nice. The one house I really hoped I didn't get into was Slytherin, it wasn't as if I was like Black and had been expected to get into a certain house by everyone and I knew my parents would love me no matter what but, there was something about the sinister attitude of the house I knew wasn't for me. _

"_West, Heidi," eventually my name was called and I timidly tiptoed up, sat down and pulled the Sorting Hat on top of my head. _

"_Hmm what do we have here?" The Hat spoke in my ear, making me jump, even though I knew it would happen from watching everyone else. "A West, ah yes, I remember your father, a Hufflepuff. You'd be good for Hufflepuff too- very loyal and kind although there's something else as well-"_

_The Hat seemed to pause for a moment "I know just where to put you- GRYFFINDOR."_

_The hat's voice seemed to echo around in my mind and I jumped up to the applause from the Gryffindor table and sat down to join Suze and the rest of my new house mates. _

The Sorting seemed to go a lot faster when you weren't nervously waiting your turn and soon we were all tucking into a wonderful welcome feast, after which we had a short speech from Dumbledore about the usual kind of thing- the forest was forbidden (pointed looks in the marauder's direction), the mysterious new defence teacher, Professor Goodyear (who was wearing a muggle suit and tie with a tweed jacket which make him look completely out of place with all the other teachers in their robes) and the Quidditch trials, before wishing us a successful year and finishing it off with the whole school singing Hogwarts' song (which meant Black and Potter singing as loudly as possible in the most off-key voices while everyone laughed and Lily frowned at their antics).

Once dinner had finished Lily, Suze and I followed the familiar path up to the Gryffindor common room and our dormitory. I couldn't help but feel the tension from earlier hadn't completely gone away, even as we talked there was a distrustful feeling that wasn't usually there. Lily and I felt very suspicious, especially as Suze was quieter than normal.

When we eventually arrived at our dorm, we all collapsed onto our beds and I took a moment to enjoy the feeling of being back a Hogwarts. We were very lucky that there were only the three of us girls sorted into Gryffindor in our year because it meant there were only the three beds in the room and left some extra space where the other beds would have been (if there'd been more girls in our year). The view from my comfy four poster bed of the cosy 6th year girl's dorm with the warm red and gold colours was one of the many things I loved about Hogwarts.

While I was taking all this in, Lily had started to unpack her trunk and Suze was also lying on her bed reading her transfiguration textbook.

Neither of these activities were very surprising as, while Suze and Lily were different in some ways, such as Lily having a much shorter temper and Suze being shyer and quieter, they both were very intelligent and studied a lot, competing good naturedly against each other for the highest marks in almost all their classes, and were both perfectionists -which meant I annoyed them greatly with my messy tendencies. Although I wasn't on their high level in most classes, I kept up fairly well and teachers generally liked me because I worked hard and was pretty well behaved (unlike some people in our classes who went out of their way to cause as much havoc as possible).

I was sort of a mixture of the two of them in some ways, being quite shy although not afraid to speak up when I felt it was needed (I guessed the last part was what made me a Gryffindor because I was never entirely sure). I had dirty blonde hair which was quite straight and I was about medium build, which was good because it meant I was able to find clothes that would fit me in most shops (much to the envy of Lily and Suze). I liked to think my eyes were my best feature because they were dark blue, framed by reasonably thick lashes, and people had told me they were like sapphires.

Lily was the shortest out of the three of us, with her petite frame, she had thick red hair that went down past her shoulders, pretty freckles across her nose which contrasted against her pale skin and bright green almond shaped eyes, making her one of the most attractive girls in our year, if not school.

Suze was quite different to Lily, she was taller than me with a slim frame and long legs which made her look even taller and a natural all-year-round tan that got even darker when she went on holiday. Her eyes were a pale blue and she had dark brown hair which was quite wavy and went down to her shoulders.

After a while Lily finished her packing and I started to become bored with just staring around the room, as lovely as Hogwarts dormitories were, my attention span wasn't the longest. I knew the near silence in the room meant we were all thinking of the same thing: how to approach the topic of what happened with Black earlier.

Eventually I decided I couldn't take it any longer "Guys," both Suze and Lily turned to look at me "we need to talk about earlier, what was all that stuff with Black about Suze?" I attempted to sound calm and reassuring, trying to diffuse the slight tension which filled the room.

Suze seemed to struggle to find the words to begin but after a moment she began quietly "Well, last year you know when my Mum died," we both nodded sympathetically, Suze's mum was an Auror when she had been killed suddenly in an attack by the Death Eaters just before Christmas.

"You kept disappearing by yourself so that no one could find you for hours on end," Lily added, clearly remembering the bleak time when Suze barely slept because when she did had terrible nightmares, and almost completely shut herself away from everyone, only turning up for lessons.

"Yes," Suze confirmed, looking grim "I had taken myself away from the common room and was looking for a place to sit and think about things for a bit, I was just looking for a place to hide really, I didn't notice where I was." Suze paused, clearly remembering something, "then I was suddenly thrown against the wall and there were about three Slytherins 7th Years surrounding me, although I don't remember exactly who, talking about how lions shouldn't play in the snakes den." Suze stopped again.

"Go on," Lily encouraged sounding worried.

"Well, I don't really remember that much of what happened, apparently they used a powerful Stupefy to knock me out and then one of them punched me in the head and in the ribs."

"They beat you up?" I asked my voice full of apprehension and disgust and Suze nodded.

"Then what happened?" Lily asked a little nervously.

"Sirius found me," Suze stated, looking calmer "I wasn't actually conscious at that point and I have no idea how he did it, apparently they'd hidden me in a broom cupboard near the dungeons. Anyway, he found me and carried me to hospital wing, where Madam Ment fixed me up fairly quickly and I end up telling him everything- about my Mum, the vague memories of what happened- we talked for a long time about a lot of things."

"How-" Lily stuttered slightly "why didn't you tell us what happened at the time?"

Suze looked ashamed "I was going through a hard enough time as it was, if you remember I was looking for a place to get away from everything, the last thing I wanted was to make you worry about me anymore. So I made Sirius promise not to tell anyone else, but he told James the entire thing, or at least part of it, because James came up to me and asked if I was ok. I was outraged at Sirius because he betrayed my trust." Suze looked thoughtful for a moment, she appeared to be quite calm considering what she had just told us, it seemed like it was doing her good to get this off her chest.

Suze continued "that's it really, I was very angry at Sirius and he got annoyed in return because he didn't agree with my decision to keep quiet and we had an argument and haven't really been on the best terms since."

"Oh Suze," Lily said kindly and she patted her soothingly on the arm. "Why on earth didn't you tell us? We could've helped."

Suze looked slightly guilty "I know, thinking back it's hard to see why I didn't, but I suppose I was just to upset with everything already, I just didn't want any more trouble."

We spent the rest of the night going over the details and talking about lighter topics, such as our holidays, before finally turning in at around eleven.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next morning I woke up at around half six, which was unusual for me because I was normally the one Lily and Suze had to drag, kicking and screaming, out of bed at about eight- so there was only just enough time for a quick shower and some breakfast before lessons began at half eight.

My first thought was along the lines of 'what on earth am I doing in the land of the conscious at this time?' My second was 'why am I thinking in such long words like conscious at this time?'

I realised fairly quickly that I wasn't going to get back to sleep- even if it was just for another hour. So I decided to take advantage of the free shower and had just finished getting dressed by about seven.

I sat on the edge of my bed and rooted around my trunk, looking for the parchment and quill that I would need for today's lessons, wondering what I had been thinking when I had packed my trunk- it was completely disorganised. I thought about unpacking while I had time but decided against it as the noise would probably wake Lily and Suze up.

Once I had found my quill and parchment I decided to set off down to the Great Hall and get some breakfast. I left a note on my bed telling Lily and Suze where I'd gone so they didn't think I'd been kidnapped or something(it was very strange for me to be awake this early after all).

On my way I found myself surprised at how many other people were awake at this time. As I passed through the common room some of the people I saw were Potter and Lupin sitting in the armchairs in one corner of the room, it wasn't unusual to see Lupin studying, but Potter also appeared to be reading a Potions Textbook. If I hadn't seen him with my own eyes then I wouldn't have believed it and I knew that Lily would never believe me if I told her.

I carried on down to the Great Hall, starting to feel quite hungry by this point. When I got down to the Gryffindor table I saw that there were only about twenty other early risers in the Great Hall- including about four of the teachers. I saw down in my usual place and took a warm croissant from the centre of the table, buttering it and adding jam to create a delicious flavour, reminiscent of family holidays in France.

I remembered something Suze had told me about McGonagall giving us timetables based on our OWL results. I knew I wanted to work in St. Mungos or another Wizarding Hospital helping people as a Healer- I just hoped that my OWLs were good enough. I had received Outstandings in Astronomy, Charms and Transfiguration, Exceeds Expectations in Potions, Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts, Acceptables in History of Magic and Ancient Runes and a Dreadful in Care of Magical Creatures(It wasn't my fault as the practical exam was on Acromantula and I am absolutely terrified of spiders!).

Once I had finished my breakfast I realised I still had about forty five minutes before I had to go back to the hall for the distribution of the timetables, so I decided to take a walk around the grounds- something I'd rarely done before in the morning.

I walked out of the entrance hall and started all on the path surrounding the castle walls, it was a nice morning, fairly warm for September in Scotland, although there was still dew on the grass. I was so pleased to be back at Hogwarts, despite all the drama, fights with Slytherins, strict teachers who gave out too much homework and exams, I had missed being here a lot.

I spent about 15 minutes strolling peacefully around the grounds, certain things about the Castle made me think of memories over the previous years: the Whomping Willow reminded me of the time Lily's favourite scarf got blown into it by the wind and Potter had somehow managed to get it back- mostly intact, the Herbology Greenhouses made me remember the time I had poured a little bit too much Mooncalf Dung on my Venomous Oporinis and it had become so big it knocked out two of my classmates and smashed one of the glass panes before Professor Abelia could stop it, and there was also the epic Gryffindor vs. Slytherin snowball fight which took place two winters ago, Gryffindor won (of course!) but the fight lasted over two hours and we were all completely frozen by the end.

I was deep in thought, standing in front of the fountain below the clock tower, when I felt someone tap me on the back. I turned around to see Black, uncommonly alone. He was dressed in the black school robes and had a red and gold Gryffindor scarf tied loosely around his neck with the longest end blowing with the draft which swept through the courtyard. I couldn't help but wonder how he managed to look so good in just the school uniform, with his angular, aristocratic cheekbones and silky black, slightly-too-long hair and tall, slim figure with long legs he looked like a haughty prince.

"Hey," He greeted me "I did try calling you, but you didn't respond."

"Oh right," I replied "hi." I suddenly felt very awkward, we'd never said more than about four sentences to each other in the past five years, Lily had always painted Black in almost as bad a light as Potter- a bullying toerag, but after yesterday I couldn't help but wonder if he wasn't that bad after all. I had thought about what Suze had told us and I couldn't help but agree with Black, even if Suze was one of my best friends, she should have told someone else about her attack.

"So, what brings you out here at this time?" Black inquired.

"I woke up weirdly early this morning and I thought the grounds looked pleasant and so I decided to come for a walk," I tried to answer politely, but it came out sounding jolted and strange. "What about you?" I decided to push on and try to have a normal conversation with him.

"Basically the same reason," he seemed fixed on something in the depths of the water in the fountain and paused slightly before quietly saying "I wanted to think about some things."

In that moment, the look on his face was so vulnerable I couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be making the ever-fearless Sirius Black look so exposed. The only other facial expressions I'd seen him with were the triumphant smirk he wore when he hexing Slytherins and answering a question in class (along with being amazingly good looking and popular, Black and Potter were also highly intelligent), his mischievous grin which he wore when the marauders played a prank or joke or his bored expression reserved for winding up McGonagall when he was being told off.

"I agree with you about Suze," I suddenly blurted out, causing him to suddenly look up from the water at me. "She told us last night about what happened and why it was so awkward yesterday. I think she should've told some else what happened as well."

"Oh right," Black smiled but then it twisted into one of disappointment "I'm glad you agree, although I think it's unfortunately too late to change anything now because if what Suze said is right, they were 7th years so they will've left by now."

"I can sort of understand why she didn't want to tell us though," I found myself telling him, "it's not really in her nature to tell people things if she thinks it will bother or trouble them. I think it might be a stubborn Gryffindor thing. You know the whole 'I can deal with it by myself, I don't need anyone else' attitude."

"Yer, we all have a bit of that in us." Black responded. "Gryffindor bravery, or stupidity as some might call it." He laughed, although it had a slightly off tone to it, almost slightly mocking and his facial expression darkened. I wondered why on earth he would be mocking the idea of Gryffindor, he had always seemed very proud of our house, probably because of his division from his family, and I couldn't help but think it was very strange.

"Are you okay?" I asked, unsure as to whether I could ask him.

I thought he wasn't going to reply, but he when looked up a much more amiable look came onto his face and he said "Yer, I'm fine, it's nothing." I wasn't entirely sure I believed him but I didn't feel I knew him well enough to ask any further.

"I'm going to head back to the Great Hall for the timetables," his deep voice had a much more cheerful tone than a moment ago and he asked "are you coming?" I was a little surprised by his invitation, but agreed anyway.

We walked back to the Great Hall, talking about what we thought the new DADA professor would be like and which lessons we planned on taking for NEWTs (he had achieved six Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations and intended to take Potions, Transfiguration, Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and Muggle Studies). When we reached the Great Hall we parted ways and he said "I'll see you in class then," before loping off to join the Marauders.

Lily and Suze were sitting at the table with some of our friends from Ravenclaw, Kate Lewis, Joanna Moore and Marcus Price, waiting for Professor McGonagall to start distributing timetables and they waved me over.

"Hey Heidi," Joanna greeted me "It's good to see you, did you have a good summer?"

"Yes thanks," I had become quite good friends with Joanna when I sat next to her in History of Magic last year, despite being a Ravenclaw, even she didn't bother listening to Professor Binns' boring lectures and we tended to spend the lesson playing noughts and crosses or talking quietly. "I went to Wales for two weeks with my family, what about you?"

"I went to Florence in Italy with my parents and spent two weeks there," Joanna had quite a posh voice and I knew she was from a wealthy background, but she wasn't particularly snobby about it "it was fabulous, we looked around the museums and galleries, there's so much history and culture there."

I was just about to ask Kate and Marcus about their summers when McGonagall down from the staff table and over to the seats a bit further down and started distributing timetables. It didn't take her too long to reach us as most of the people before us were first or second years and so it was fairly straightforward for them.

She reached Lily first "Evans, let's see, eight Outstandings and two Exceeds Expectations; very good. I'd imagine you'll want to continue with Potions, Charms, Transfiguration-" McGonagall looked at Lily in a way which indicated that she should continue to list the subjects she wanted to take.

"Yes and Arithmancy, Herbology, Muggle Studies and Ancient Ruins." Lily replied politely, I couldn't understand why Lily was taking Muggle Studies as she was a Muggleborn but she had told me it was interesting to learn about it from a wizarding perspective. It made me wonder why on earth she wasn't in Ravenclaw when she said things like that.

Professor McGonagall gave Lily and then Suze their timetables (Suze had achieved seven Outstandings, three Exceeds Expectations and was taking the same as Lily but with History of Magic instead of Ancient Ruins) and then sorted out Joanna, Kate and Marcus with their timetables before she got to me.

"West," she said as she found my name followed by the number of OWLs I had achieved on her list "I know Professor Pavo was especially pleased with your Astronomy result. If you want to become a Healer then you will be wanting to take Potions, Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts and judging by your OWLs I would say Astronomy as well, is that right?" She asked briskly, in her usual no-nonsense manner, and when I confirmed it she handed me my timetable.

I looked down and discovered I had double Herbology first with Lily, Suze and Marcus so we all headed down to the Greenhouses. We spent two hours learning about the correct way to extract the pods from the Snargaluff plant, which resulted in quite a few nasty scratches from the bramble like vines.

Then we had break which I spent sitting on the grass outside the greenhouses with Lily and Suze, comparing our various injuries, I almost brought up my conversation with Black this morning, but eventually decided there wasn't enough time to properly discuss it in enough detail.

After break I was pleased to discover that I had a free period or 'study period' as Lily and Suze insisted on calling them and so headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room for an hour while Lily and Suze went off to Muggle Studies. I sat in the common room in one of the comfy chairs next to the un-lit fire for about ten minutes, reading Quidditch Through the Ages. I was a keen player and hoped to apply for the spot of Chaser on the Gryffindor Team when Potter held trials next week because Alice Meadowes, who was the previous chaser along with Potter, had graduated.

Next I decided to head up to the dorm room and unpack my trunk, as I hadn't got any homework from Herbology and had surprisingly managed to finish all of the homework I had been set over the summer.

It took the rest of the free period, but I managed to unpack my trunk and had finally got everything pretty organised. I was so busy putting the last few items from my trunk into my wardrobe, there was some pretty cool stuff at the bottom of my trunk which was interesting to look at, that I didn't notice the time until I had less than three minutes to get to Transfiguration.

I quickly grabbed my bag and dashed out of the portrait hole, missing a first year by mere millimetres and causing the Fat Lady to complain loudly, although I didn't stay around long enough to hear it. I sprinted as fast as I could along the corridors, swerving in and out of students and almost crashing into the new defence teacher, who seemed to be bumbling along in the middle of the corridor looking quite lost. I checked my watch as I sprinted round the last corner, I had less than ten seconds to get there then- WHAM!

I crashed into a solid object and flew backwards, hitting the hard stone floor with a dull thud. I looked over to see what I had crashed into and, upon discovering it was a stone pillar, promptly turned bright red at my own stupidity. I heard the bell signalling the beginning of the next lesson and groaned, the corridor was thankfully fairly empty at this point and I didn't think many people had seen my blunder. I picked myself up off the floor, my bottom aching where I had hit it the hard ground.

It was so typical that the one lesson I was late for would be the one with the strictest teacher, I knew there was no way I would ever be able to bluff my way out of this one, like I would with a teacher like Slughorn. I walked into Transfiguration and McGonagall, who had obviously already begun teaching, turned from what she had been demonstrating to look at me.

"Sorry I'm late Professor," I said meekly, already knowing there was no point in trying to lie and saying I fell over sounded like the most pathetic excuse so I didn't even bother.

Professor McGonagall frowned and said firmly "West, this is not acceptable behaviour, you should know better." Then added "detention tonight with Professor Slughorn in the Dungeons, hurry up and sit down," and continuing with her lecture on non-verbal transfiguration.

I looked around the classroom for a spare seat, Lily and Suze were sitting together and there were absolutely no free seats near them, in fact the only space free in the whole class was next to Remus Lupin. Not that I minded particularly, Lupin seemed like a nice guy, a little quiet perhaps but Lily had prefect rounds with him sometimes and they were quite good friends. The only problem was that the seat was directly in front of Potter and Black, I knew they would try and talk to me if I sat there and if McGonagall caught me talking, particularly to them- the biggest troublemakers in the school, I would be in big trouble. Still, it wasn't as if I had any other choice, so I sat down next to Lupin and smiled gratefully as he moved his spare parchment to make space for me.

For the rest of the lesson I listened attentively, making careful notes about what McGonagall was saying, until I felt something hit the back of my head. I resisted the temptation to turn around, knowing it was either Black or Potter, there was only ten minutes of the lesson left anyway- I could wait that long. A few minutes later a piece of paper floated calmly down right past the end of my nose and landed on the desk in front of me, but I just pushed it to the side and Lupin raised his eyebrows at me.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." He whispered subtly.

"Do what?" I asked when McGonagall had turned her back to write something on the board and Lupin indicated to the paper which I had pushed aside. "I'm just going to ignore it until the end of the lesson." I explained.

Lupin nodded almost indecipherably and said "if you do that it will keep on expanding." I realised the small note paper, which had been no more than the size of a sickle had now increased and was now at least the size of a galleon.

I quickly cottoned onto the fact that at the rate that the paper was growing I would never be able to wait until the end of the lesson, or at least not if I wanted McGonagall to remain oblivious to me. I tried to subtly open the paper out whilst hiding it under my current piece of parchment but it carried on getting bigger.

"I've opened it, why hasn't it stopped?" I hurriedly said in a low voice to Lupin.

"You have to read it." He replied, his lips barely moving, eyes never straying from the board- he clearly was used to deceiving the teachers, but then again with friends like the his I suppose you would have to be.

I resigned because it was getting quite big by now and opened it up: 

_Why is your bum covered in dust? SB_

I was stunned by the audacity of his comment and instantly became very self conscious. 'Sirius Black had seen my bottom covered in dust, Black was looking at my bum' I couldn't help but think even though I told myself to snap out of it- Black was such a pervert and he had no right. 

_I fell over. Stop looking at my backside. HW_

I hoped that would portray the message clearly enough, I wanted to add more but I knew I was already pushing it as it was and as swiftly as I possibly could I sent the note back.

Unfortunately Black didn't seem to get the hint and a moment later another note appeared. 

_Why? I happen to like it, even if it is a little dusty. SB_

I was shocked, why did our conversation this morning seem like a go-ahead for him to start sexually harassing me? It looked as if his vulnerable demeanour from this morning had disappeared and confident, cocky, usual Black had come back. I wasn't particularly surprised, it was a bit too good to be true, but I was a little disappointed, I had hoped he was different to what I'd originally thought.

The bell rang for lunch and as I was packing up my things Black came to me.

"Hey, have you got DADA after lunch?" He asked, as if he hadn't just been harassing me.

"Yes," I snapped, annoyed at him and his stupid expanding notes that could have easily got me into even more trouble. "Why?"

He looked a little taken aback "well, it's just that neither Evans or Jones are taking the class and Prongs always sits with Moony in DADA" It took me a moment to work out who he was talking about because they'd given each other silly nicknames. "I was wondering if you wanted to partner up?" He appeared to be trying to act completely casual, the height of cool, leaning casually against the desk across from mine.

I was so startled by the fact that he had asked me to sit with him that I forgot my irritation with him and the first thing that came out of my mouth was "but you barely know me." As soon as I had blurted it out I immediately wanted to take it back- what kind of person says that?

Black now looked very uncomfortable and much less relaxed as he said "well I thought it would a good way to get to know each other better."

"Oh right," I tried to recover the situation, feeling bad for being so rude earlier, "as long as you don't get me into anymore trouble that sounds great, I'll see you in DADA then." Then I hurried off, walking as fast as I could over to where Lily and Suze were waiting for me outside, feeling myself going bright red for the second time that day.

"What on earth was that all about?" Lily asked rapidly as I got there. "Why have you gone red? What did he say?"

"Slow down Lil," I replied holding up my hand "I'm still recovering." I realised that I still needed to tell them what happened this morning "why don't we go down to the kitchens and grab some lunch, then head back up to the dorm and I'll tell you there?"

Lily and Suze didn't seem particularly pleased at having to wait but nevertheless agreed to go along with the idea. We had found out where the kitchens were from following the Marauders (which is actually an incredibly difficult feat because they must know the school better than anyone and seem to have the ability to be everywhere at once but also disappear instantly) in our 3rd year because Lily had got so fed up with Potter that she decided to follow them around in order to find out a) what they were planning b) to stop whatever it was and c) get them into loads of trouble. Our plan didn't really work, as we followed them into the kitchens but got too distracted everything in there and they saw us, but we now knew where the kitchens were which proved to be very useful on occasions like these.

We arrived back at our dorm, about fifteen minutes later, laden with too much food for three people as Suze found it impossible to say no to the house elves. We sat on our floor, munching our way through sandwiches and Lily swiftly inquired what had happened earlier.

"Well it all started this morning," I began, explaining about how I had met Black on my walk around the grounds and about how we had talked a little. I then moved on to tell them about why I was so late for Transfiguration (something they were also very keen to know) and explained about how Black had sent me annoying notes, to eventually asking me to sit with him in DADA.

Lily and Suze listened to the whole story, making comments now and again, but generally staying quiet and eating the feast we had brought up with us. "He definitely fancies you," Lily stated as soon as I had finished, I looked at her disbelievingly.

"Did you just say that you think, Sirius Black, the boy who you have frequently named as the Devil's accomplice, fancies me?" I needed to make absolutely sure this was the same Lily Evans that hated Potter and Black with a passion.

"Yes, isn't it obvious?" Lily had an excited look on her face that I didn't entirely trust. "He wants to be with you, to get to know you. Even if it is Black, it's so cute."

"I cannot believe you just called Black cute Lily," Suze, who had been sitting there with an amused smile on her face and eating an orange, added in.

Lily's wide smile decreased slightly "Well, I mean, only in a 'oh look the stupid boy is coming to his senses' kind of way, I still detest Potter and Black and everything." Lily was obviously trying to muster up a look of determination on her face, but it didn't really work.

"Lily," I said, seeing a chance to change the uncomfortable focus of the attention elsewhere. "That was such a pathetic thing to say, why can't you just admit that Potter has changed and isn't that bad anymore?"

Lily's face twisted into a scowl and she didn't say anything, but I knew she was thinking about the event at the end of last year after the OWLs.

"Heidi?" Suze suddenly asked "We have a free now, but I think you have DADA to go to." "Oh right," I immediately jumped up from the floor and grabbed my bag, there was no way I was going to be late again "thanks for reminding me, bye!"

I still had five minutes to spare when I arrived in front of the DADA classroom, but I didn't mind waiting, not after this morning.

"Hi Dee," Black strolled towards me, looking handsome as usual in his robes, stretching out my name as he called down the corridor, causing the few students already waiting (mainly Ravenclaws) to look at us "get it?"

"Very clever," I raised an eyebrow "I hope you're not going to disrupt this lesson too much. I still haven't forgiven you for that note earlier in Transfiguration."

"Nah," Black responded nonchalantly "DADA is my favourite subject, I want to be an Auror, so I should probably be the one asking you to not disrupt _my_ learning" he looked very serious for a second before bursting out laughing, presumably at the notion of me causing any trouble. It made me feel quite offended- I could have fun and break rules if I wanted, had I not got a detention this evening after all?

I couldn't help but remember what Lily had said about the idea of him fancying me, I knew it was ridiculous but now they'd put the idea in my head I kept wondering whether it was a sign that he did whenever he did the slightest thing.

"Where are the rest of your merry men then?" I asked him, not entirely patiently.

"Oh, they went down to the kitchens to grab some lunch, they'll be here in a moment." Clearly we weren't the only ones who abused the knowledge of the whereabouts of the kitchen. "And don't call us 'Merry Men', we're the Marauders." Black declared with an element of pride before peering up past me up the corridor and, as if he had planned it, Potter and Lupin came round the corner.

"Oi Prongs," Black called up to Potter who came over to us "Heidi here thinks we're 'Merry Men'." He said the name as if it was a foreign word and it suddenly occurred to me that as a Pureblood neither Potter nor Black had any clue who Robin Hood and his Merry Men were. Lupin seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me.

"Padfoot," Lupin quickly explained. "Robin Hood and his Merry Men were outlaws who used to rob the rich to give to the poor."

Black and Potter nodded in understanding. "It's a muggle thing right?" Black asked.

"Yes," Lupin agreed "we actually learnt about it in Muggle Studies, but I believe you were too busy chatting up Lizzie Allbrook to pay attention." I suddenly felt stupid, Black was such a womaniser, I couldn't believe I'd even considered that he would fancy me- that I would want him to fancy me.

We waited around for a further 10 minutes before Professor Goodyear eventually turned up and let us in to the classroom. He was dressed in what appeared to be the same grey tweed suit that looked distinctly muggle, something which caused the few Slytherins who were taking the class to take an instant dislike towards him. He was fairly old with balding grey hair and his gait seemed almost like a stumble crossed with a shuffle, although he didn't appear to be missing any limbs- unlike our last DADA professor.

I took a seat next to Black, as I had agreed, and behind Potter and Lupin, the rest of the class was still talking so the noise level in the classroom was very high. Professor Goodyear didn't give the impression of being a very competent teacher; he just stood at the front, blinking a lot with his wide eyes, which reminded me of a goldfish for some reason, clutching his wand nervously, he made as if he was about to speak a few times before he eventually calling out for quiet in a weak voice.

Black frowned and commented "I don't think he has a clue what he's doing."

Finally the chatter died down enough that Goodyear was able to speak. He had a slightly raspy voice and seemed very unsure about what he was saying "Now class, erm, today we are going to be studying," he looked back down at his notes "erm, Vampires. You there-" he pointed feebly at Michael Jacobson, a Hufflepuff, "tell me what you know about them."

"They suck people's blood and avoid garlic." Jacobson replied simply, any other teacher would have probably questioned it further, before explaining the details, but Goodyear nodded as if this was an exemplary answer and continued with the lesson, which appeared to be on a loosely based general knowledge quiz of whatever popped into his head.

Next to me I could feel Black becoming increasingly more and more annoyed at Goodyear's pathetic teaching and he increasingly fidgeted around. However, when Black was picked to answer a question and Goodyear asked him how many legs a Hinkypunk had, something a third year could've answered easily- let alone a 6th year, Black wore a rare confused expression on his face.

"I'm so sorry Sir," he said in an uncharacteristically respectful tone "I don't think I can remember that, perhaps you could tell me?"

The class realised what Black was doing- putting Goodyear on the spot, as he hadn't actually taught us a single thing or appeared to even know whether the answers to his questions were correct. We watched as Goodyear's eyes widened even further than usual and he rocked back on his feet, appearing to need the moment to think.

We waited for over a minute in almost complete silence, as Goodyear still hadn't said or done anything, before whispers started to break out across the classroom. Sirius, who I had expected to be wearing a triumphant smirk at successfully humiliating a teacher, merely looked incredibly disappointed.

"How are we supposed to learn anything if we have this idiot as a teacher?" He sounded annoyed. I was surprised, it appeared what he had said earlier about taking this subject seriously wasn't a joke and that he was genuinely frustrated at having such a dismal teacher.

A moment later the bell rang out and the class dismissed themselves, filing out of the door, raucously talking about what an easy subject this was going to be, leaving Goodyear still standing at the front, humming tunelessly to himself.

I walked back to the common room with Black, Potter and Lupin. I had never really noticed how much attention the Marauders attracted, I mean I knew they were popular, but as I walked back with them it felt like all eyes were on us. Some Girls scowled at me, clearly jealous, and I couldn't help but feel worried I would be targeted by them just for being seen with the Marauders. Boys, especially in the younger years, looked up to them as if they were some kind of Gods or something. People's reactions to the Marauders seemed very bizarre to me- it was if they were celebrities. However the Marauders themselves carried on talking about how appalling our new DADA teacher was, not phased in the slightest.

When we arrived back in the common room I separated from the Marauders as they joined Pettigrew and I headed over to where Lily and Suze were having a game of Exploding Snap.

"How was DADA?" Suze asked as I sat down heavily in one of the armchairs next to them.

"Terrible." I stated and both their heads suddenly whipped round to look at me.

"What happened?" Lily questioned and I realised they thought I meant something had happened with Black.

"Professor Goodyear doesn't know anything and can't teach to save his life," I told them "so we're all going to fail DADA."

"Oh no," Suze said sympathetically.

"That is bad." Lily agreed. There was a pause, and then Lily hesitantly asked "so nothing happened with Black then?"

"Shhh," I told her and pointed to where Black was sitting a few seats away with the rest of the Marauders, laughing about something or other, "I sat next to him and he got annoyed with Goodyear's awful teaching, so when Goodyear asked him a question he pretended not to know the answer in order to get Goodyear to explain it to him. Of course when Goodyear couldn't it proved how much of a bad teacher he really was. Although he seems to really care about DADA, he told me he wants to be an Auror, so his grade in that subject is really important to him."

We spent the next few hours making a start on the twelve inch essay about non-verbal spells McGonagall had apparently set us in Transfiguration when I was distracted by Black and also played a few games of Exploding Snap before dinner.

After dinner I had my detention with Slughorn which turned out to be just cleaning the bottom of cauldrons for about 2 hours, boring, but not particularly difficult.

I spent the next few hours back in the common room, talking to Lily and Suze and then reading my book- _Guide to Advanced Transfiguration- in order to get some ideas for my essay,_ before collecting my telescope and the equipment I needed and walking up the steep spiral stair case to the Astronomy tower.

Astronomy was one of my favourite subjects because I loved being able to use the magically altered telescope to see far out into space. Even though most people found the subject boring because of all the intricate, complicated detail you had to put into every star map, I was fascinated by the fact that you could use magic to study the universe and the endless possibilities it brought. None of my friends had taken Astronomy at NEWT level, in fact only four people in the entire year did, but I didn't mind too much, as it was nice to spend two hours sitting quietly, charting the stars and planets.

At around midnight the lesson finished and I walked back down the gloomy corridors to my dormitory. As I walked around a corner I caught sight of Filch, the new caretaker who was always slinking around trying to get whoever he could in trouble, and tried to hurry along, I had no desire to get caught by him-even if I did have a legitimate reason to be out after hours. I got into bed at around one, promising myself I would never wake up at half six again as I was now absolutely exhausted.

**Wow, that was a long chapter! Leave a review and let me know what you think so far, was it:**  
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><strong>Any advice is much appreciated :) Random Fact: Professor Goodyear is actually based on real teacher I had in the past as my form tutor for a few weeks before he disappeared. I think it's ironic that he was actually called Mr Goodyear because of the curse surrounding the DADA teachers.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Unlike yesterday, I woke up at my normal time i.e. late. Then Lily and Suze managed to drag me out of bed and shove some breakfast down my throat before Double Potions.

As opposed to the rest of our classes, in Potions we were put in a seating plan. In previous years this had resulted in many catastrophes, such as Lily and Potter or Black and Snape trying to work together. Last year I had been put with a Slytherin called Malory Higgs, who spent the entire year completely ignoring everything I did, even though she was awful at Potions, which usually resulted in our potion being absolutely terrible. I had only managed to achieve an Exceeds Expectations in Potions because Higgs had mysteriously been ill on the day of the exam, which I was very grateful for as without my Potions NEWT I would never be able to become a Healer.

This year when we walked in Slughorn was sitting at his desk, looking just as portly as last year, when he saw us (or more specifically Lily and Suze who were members of his beloved 'Slug Club') he beamed and called out:"Evans, Jones and Weeks, how lovely to see you again this year," as usual he completely forgot my name, causing Lily to roll her eyes.

We sat down at a table with Marcus and Joanna and waited for the rest of the class to come everyone had arrived Slughorn started off by putting everyone into pairs. "Let me see," he used a stubby finger to trace his list "Jones with Lupin, Snape with Pettigrew, Rosier with Evans, Zabini with Lestrange, Potter with West, Price with Moore and Hughes with Black." There was a mixed reaction to Slughorn's choice of groupings, Suze seemed quite pleased to be with Lupin, Pettigrew seemed quite frightened at the prospect of working with Snape without his friends to back him up and Snape was looking longingly at Lily (as usual), who seemed appalled at the thought of working with Rosier (an obnoxious Slytherin), Zabini and Lestrange (from Slytherin) were friends and looked pleased with the way things had turned out, I wasn't really sure what to think- a month ago I would've been dreading working with Potter, but recently he didn't seem that bad, Joanna and Marcus looked very happy at being put together (I suspected they both fancied each other but in true Ravenclaw fashion they were too rational to do anything about it) and Black looked bored at the idea of being put with the only Hufflepuff in the group- a rather dull boy called Ralph Hughes.

The lesson began quite normally, we were told to mix an Elixir of Euphoria with our partners. I went over to Potter's desk and began to collect the ingredients needed.

"Hey West," Fabulous, I knew the look on Potter's face only too well, it was the one he got when he thought he had an amazing idea, most of often seen just before he did something really stupid to try and impress Lily. "Wouldn't it just be quicker to mix in the Ginger and the Frog's Brains in together before we have to add the Cockroaches, rather than having to keep them separate?"

"Potter," I began tiredly, I was not in the mood for him this early "if it was better to do that then surely the book would have said that to begin with. No, we're going to try and follow the instructions to the letter."He sighed and continued to crush the Frog's Brains.

About an hour and half later we had an yellowy- orange solution which I was quite proud of, in the textbook it showed the Elixir as being quite close to the colour we had achieved. Around the rest of the class most people had finished, or were nearly finished. Black and Hughes were massively behind, although this was largely due to the fact that they had to start again because Hughes had added far too much Peppermint- an ingredient which wasn't even meant to feature in the Elixir to begin with.

Slughorn walked around, inspecting all of the Potions, he had given Lily, Suze, Snape and their partners Outstandings for theirs already. He walked up to mine and Potter's and compared it to his colour chart, before taking a sniff and declaring it 'very good' before disappearing off to look at Joanna and Marcus's Potion.

Slughorn then proceeded to set us a 3ft essay on the benefits and disadvantages of using the Elixir of Euphoria on creatures like unicorns and pixies.

At break time we took advantage of the sunshine, as we knew that soon it would turn much colder when autumn came, and went outside and sat on the grass next to the lake. I tried to have a go at skimming stones but ended up upsetting the Giant Squid who came over and started skirting water at us.

Next we had charms with Professor Flitwick, we spent the lesson learning about the charm Aguamenti, which was harder than I had anticipated. As usual Lily mastered it quickly as she was a Charms Wiz. I eventually managed it, although it ended up not being particularly pure and Flitwick gave me an Acceptable for it, as it wasn't up to my usual standard.

Herbology was very dull as we spent the entire lesson learning about the theory behind sneezewort's effects and didn't do any practical at all- which was rare for Herbology.

I was trying to decode Professor Abelia's untidy notes, which were magically scrawled on the blackboard and incredibly difficult to read, about what happens if you mixed sneezewort with leech juice (did it say inflammation or inoculation?) when Potter sent me a note on the same expanding paper as yesterday- what was it with the Marauders sending me notes recently?

_If I gave Evans some Lilies would she go to Hogsmeade with me? JP_

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at his antics.

_What do you think Potter? HW_

I hoped that the sarcasm came across in my note but judging by his reply it clearly didn't.

_Well, I think Lilies are very nice but Padfoot thinks they're too clique, but I was hoping you might have a better idea... JP_

I glanced over to where they were sitting, right at the back, Black looked as if he was about to burst into laughter- clearly he knew I was being sarcastic but thought it was too much of a good opportunity to pass up on, Potter looked expectant and completely serious- I couldn't understand how he could be so intelligent normally and yet so utterly clueless when it came to Lily.

_I think a better idea might be not to send her any flowers at all, I don't know whether you've noticed, but she tends not to very appreciative of your presents. HW_

I sent the note back and a moment later I heard a snigger behind me, it appeared that Black had found the situation too funny to keep a straight face, Potter looked quite confused, and I think he may have just realised that I was taking the Mickey. Meanwhile the rest of the class was diligently copying the notes from the board down, although Lily had noticed what was going on and poked me rather sharply.

"What are you doing?" She whispered, looking between Potter, Black, and I confusedly.

"Nothing." I sounded very guilty though but I thought it was probably best for both mine and Potter's sakes that I didn't tell her we were passing notes about the best way to get her to go out with him.

Lily shot me a disbelieving look before returning to copying down from the board.

After the lesson Lily and Suze went off to the library, intent on doing some studying for their Muggle Studies essay (although why Lily needed to study I wasn't entirely sure) and I decided not to join them. As I was walking to the Great Hall for some lunch I was suddenly accosted by the Marauders.

"Dee," Sirius Black began, grinning widely, using the nickname he had thought up yesterday. "Prongs here thinks you may have told Evans about his 'plan' when she spoke to you in Herbology."

"What?" I asked "why would I do that? It would only put Lily in a terrible mood." Although it seemed to clear up the confusion, Potter's face visibly drop and he looked very disappointed. I felt sorry for him, I had come to the conclusion that he did genuinely care for Lily but was completely clueless as to how to show his affection.

"So how would you suggest I try and get Lily to go out with me then?" Potter questioned, sounding dejected.

The words 'you shouldn't' were on the tip of my tongue but I decided that he at least deserved some good advice, seeing as I doubt Black told him anything useful.

"Well, perhaps you could try being yourself around her," I suggested.

Potter looked baffled, "why would I want to do that?" He wondered.

"If Lily sees you for the nice, considerate," I had to stop a snigger- I couldn't believe I was saying this to Potter of all people, "person you really are, instead of the arrogant arse that constantly annoys her, and then maybe she'll like you."

Potter considered this for a second, "it's worth a shot." He said thoughtfully.

"Don't tell her I told you this though," I added as an afterthought "She'd kill me if she knew I was helping you."

"Your secret's safe with me, thanks for the advice" Potter grinned and then suddenly turned sharply left and the rest of the Marauders, who had been walking slightly behind us, followed him and disappeared behind a tapestry.

I ate lunch with my friends from Ravenclaw because I knew Lily and Suze would probably grab something in the kitchens. Then I retreated to the common room to make a start on the Potions essay in my free period. I had just laid out the necessary information I would need to make a start (about 3 textbooks, parchment and quill and some essential chocolate) before I was interrupted.

"Heidi!" I looked up the sound of someone calling my name and saw Justine Dolby, a 5th year Gryffindor, taking a seat in the empty armchair across from me.

"What?" I asked, very irritated at being disturbed, especially by Justine- someone I didn't particularly like.

"You're friends with Sirius right?" She enquired in her usual bold, no nonsense manner, her charmed blonde hair flicking about. I wasn't really sure what to say, on one hand I couldn't exactly say I disliked him, but I wasn't really sure the few conversations we'd had over the past couple of days could count as 'friendship'.

I was clearly taking too long wondering about this for Justine, a disgruntled look came onto her face and she demanded rather impatiently "Come on, everyone saw you walking in the corridor with the Marauders yesterday." I should've known that would come back to haunt me later on.

"Well," I replied slowly, wanting to phrase this right so she wouldn't get any ideas and I would be plagued by all the girls in the school who thought I could help them get Black. "I wouldn't say me and Black were friends, we just happened to be walking in the same direction at the same time." I hoped the slightly frustrated tone in my voice would be enough to show her that I really couldn't care less, but unfortunately she persisted.

"So you know him, right?" I was about to tell her that I actually didn't but she quickly continued "I was thinking that you could do me a favour and just, you know, mention my name once or twice, point me out to him, things like that." She smiled gratefully while I just sat there, astounded by her nerve, she seemed to take this a confirmation and thanked me before grabbing a chocolate frog from my collection and flouncing off towards her friends.

I was so utterly flabbergasted by what had just happened that it took me almost fifteen minutes to start working on my essay, by which point half of my free period was wasted and I was in a terrible mood.

DADA last period didn't help much either, Professor Goodyear spent the entire lesson lecturing us from the textbook about Hinkypunks (because apparently _we _hadn't understood yesterday not _him_), while Black rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath.

After about three quarters of DADA I was completely pissed off. Black, who had also been in a bad mood for most of the lesson, had suddenly acquired a new resolve and was now sitting in his seat determinedly jotting something down on his parchment. Even though I was incredibly annoyed, I couldn't help but wonder if Black was OK, it was very rare- if it had ever even happened- to see him writing, let alone at the fast pace he was currently working at. I mean- I wasn't even entirely sure he _could _write before now.

My curiosity peaked, I forgot my frustration and tried to subtly peek over his shoulder. Sadly he saw me, clearly I wasn't subtle enough, and covered over what he was writing with his hand.

"I'll tell you later," he offered, continuing to write, his head now bending down so low to the parchment that his sleek black hair covered it.

I looked up from Black to find Potter starring at him in amazement.

"What is he doing?" Potter mouthed to me, clearly just as confused as I was to see Black working.

"I have no idea." I mouthed back.

Potter shrugged and turned back around to the game of hangman he was having with Lupin.

When the bell rang Black stopped writing, I had expected him to tell me what he had written immediately but he just collected his things before turning to me and saying "I'll meet you next to the Tapestry of the Goblin Wars on the 3rd floor in half an hour."

Then, before I could ask what on earth he was talking about, he was gone.

I decided that this confusing situation called for the help of my best friends. I found Lily and Suze in the common room and quickly updated them to the strange behaviour of Black. We resolved to go and meet Black, if only to find out what was going on, but if this was a prank then they would be very sorry.

We waited until about thirty five minutes later- we quite liked the idea of making them wait as a kind of payback for all the times the Marauders had held up the class with their stupid practical jokes. I had no idea that there even was a Tapestry of Goblin Wars on the 3rd Floor, but Lily told us she'd seen it on her prefect patrols.

When we got there the Marauders we nowhere in sight, I glanced around but I couldn't see anything- just deserted corridor. I felt something brush past me and jumped in shock.

"What was that?" I asked nervously. Then suddenly Black and Potter appeared from nowhere.

"Potter!" Lily exclaimed, just as surprised as I was at their sudden materialisation. "Where did you come from? This better not be a horrible joke."

"Don't worry Evans," Black said with a smirk on his face, obviously back to normal after his strange behaviour earlier. "It's not a prank." I noticed Potter was staying quiet, normally he takes every opportunity to speak to Lily, even if it does always end in failure.

"Alright," Lily reluctantly agreed "what's going on then?"

"We've decided to start a study group, specifically for DADA, we can all combine our knowledge so we actually learn something." Black looked so pleased with himself that I just had to laugh, 'The Marauders' and 'Study Group' were not words which I would've ever associated with each other.

"What's wrong?" Black looked baffled as to why his suggestion was causing us to laugh so much.

"Doesn't the idea of a studying, I don't know, go against your principle or something?" I asked when I could stop laughing enough.

"No," Black replied and then his smirk returned "I'm serious." This pun set us off into yet more laughter and Potter snorted, despite the fact that he must have heard that pun so many times before.

It was a bizarre situation, standing in the middle of a deserted corridor laughing our heads off with the Marauders. A moment later Lily seemed to realise this too and promptly stopped laughing.

"You actually want to start a study group?" Lily wondered once the laughter had died down.

"With your help," Black stated, "after all, what would we know about studying?" For a second I thought Lily might take offence to the suggestion that she was a know-it-all and her infamous temper would flare up, but she appeared to be quite calm.

"Ok," She agreed "I'll help, even though I'm not taking DADA, I think it'll be good to have some more knowledge of the subject- especially in the current climate." She was referring to the situation outside the castle walls- the evil wizard Voldemort was quickly gaining power and support, causing worry throughout the magical world. Black and Potter nodded, a steely resolve appearing on their faces at the idea of Voldemort.

"I'm in as well," I supplied, unsure whether Lily's acceptance covered all three of us.

"Me too," Suze added.

The two Marauders beamed and Black said "And of course Wormtail and Moony are in, so that's seven of us," he counted the numbers on his fingers "what about some other people from our DADA class? I think we should ask everyone, apart from Slytherin of course."

"Perfect," Potter spoke for the first time "how often do you want to meet up?"

"Perhaps twice a week?" I suggested. "Maybe more closer to the exams we could increase the number?"

"Sounds good," Black complimented "I drew up a list of a few places where we could meet in DADA; depending on the numbers."

We agreed that it was easier if the Marauders sent a message around our DADA class for anyone willing to participate and when they knew the numbers and had found a suitable they would tell us.

All in all it was a very strange experience- Black and Potter were almost acting responsible and mature, I wasn't sure what had happened to them over the summer, but they'd come back very different. It was confusing me and I could definitely tell Lily was baffled by their altered behaviour.

We spent the rest of the evening in the dorm room discussing what we could do at the study sessions and the peculiar change in Black and Potter.

"I just don't get it," Lily was now in full on rant mode "Potter was so..." She struggled to find a word to describe him.

"Quiet?" Suze suggested.

"Yes," Lily nodded before returning to her monologue. "He was so nice and calm, and he didn't ask me out once, do you think he's OK? I mean he's asked me out at every opportunity for the past 3 years and then suddenly, he stops. What does that even mean?" She let out a frustrated sigh "honestly Potter is the most irritating being I have ever encountered."

Suze and I just sat there listening to what she was saying, we were used to dealing with Lily's rants about Potter, although usually she tended to be mad at him for doing something- this time she was mad at him for doing nothing, and we knew that if we waited for her to get it all out of her system before trying to reason with her it would be much easier.

"What's really odd is how the Marauders- notorious for their lack of work ethic- suddenly want to start a study group," Lily grabbed the ends of her hair- literally almost tearing her hair out. "Are you sure they're not actually pranking us?"

"I doubt it Lil," Suze told her. "They actually seem pretty serious to me, I suppose there's no way to really know, but we might as well give them the benefit of the doubt."

"Maybe they've really grown up," I added in, there was a slight pause while we considered the possibility, then we all burst out laughing. "Nah, the Marauders will never grow up. You're probably right Lil, it's most likely to be a stupid practical joke, but I think their idea is quite a good one. After all I do really need a study group if I'm going to pass DADA."

We talked a bit more about whether to trust the Marauders or not and eventually came to the conclusion that we would give it a go, but if they tried anything then we would never believe them again.

**What do you think of the Marauders? Are they not mischievous enough? Do you think Lily, Suze and Heidi are realistic? Do you like it?**  
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	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 **

The next few days were fairly uneventful- I had got back into the usual Hogwarts routine where I woke up, we had lessons, teachers set homework, I spent the evenings doing the homework and chatting to Lily and Suze before going to bed. The Marauders also continued behaving quite strangely, although there was a moment before Transfiguration where Black and Potter jinxed Snape so that leeks grew out of his ears just as McGonagall came around the corner and received 2 nights detention, they hadn't really caused anymore mayhem- at least not that I was aware of.

The weekend eventually came and brought with it Quidditch Trials, Potter had announced that there were places for a Chaser and a Beater. I was hoping to be picked for Chaser as I had spent rather a lot of my summer practising with my brother in one of the fields near my house, but I was aware that there was fierce competition this year. I knew Jacob Matthews and Jeremy Reynolds in 5th year were trying out for the position of Chaser and were both said to be very good. I had also heard through the Hogwarts gossip mill that Justine Dolby was trying out for the position of Beater, although I knew she was only doing it because Black was the other beater on the team.

Determined not to be late, I woke up especially early on Saturday morning leaving Lily and Suze to sleep in. I was out at the Quidditch Pitch at 8:30, half an hour before they began, the only other people out there were Potter, Black and Jacob Matthews.

"Dee!" Black called when he saw me and Potter gave me a thumbs up before returning to the broom he was intently polishing. "Are you trying out?" He asked, looking at my broomstick which I clutched.

"Yes, for Chaser" I answered and looked up at the clear blue sky, the sun shone it's fairly warm light over my face and everything looked very fresh and bright. "It's a good morning for it."

Black smiled "Yes it is. Hopefully there won't be as many people as there were last year because Prongs is only trialling two positions." Then he turned to Potter "Oi Prongs, look who's just turned up." I glanced over to the edge of the pitch and saw Justine Dolby and her group of followers. She was carrying a broomstick, although it looked so new I wasn't sure it had even been ridden before. Potter glimpsed up and, upon seeing it was Justine, rolled his eyes.

"Hey Sirius," Justine announced and something inside me twisted, what right did she have to call him by his first name- she barely knew him! "Hey James, I'm here to try out for Beater." Then she saw me "Oh hi Heidi, are you trying out too?"

"Yes." I replied shortly, I hated how she pretended to be friends with me. Black raised an eyebrow at me and I felt like shouting- it's your stupid fault she thinks we're friends in the first place.

"Great, what position are you going for?" Justine was one of the most oblivious people I'd ever met- could she not see how irritated by her I was?

"Chaser." I decided to try and keep my answers as short as possible, that way no one (except possibly Justine herself) would have any doubt about how annoying I found her.

I'm sure Justine was about to ask me another question- probably one about Black, knowing her, but Jeremy Reynolds and Lydia Brooks had just arrived and Potter loudly started questioning them.

At nine Potter began by getting us to fly around the pitch once or twice, just to check we could fly. A few first and second years were quickly eliminated as they didn't appear to be able to stay in the air for more than about thirty seconds. Justine was surprisingly not a complete novice and could at least fly, although it was very irritating because her friends or followers cheered her on constantly.

We were then split up into the different positions we were auditioning for. Potter started by trying out the Beaters. There was about eight people who were trying out for the place, although two of them looked like miniature Justines and were probably only in it for the bonus of working with Black, and of course Justine herself. The other four were quite a bunch, there was a 2nd year boy who looked terrified but very excited, a very bulky and large 4th year boy who I thought was probably called Simon Cardel, Lydia Brooks who was a 5th year and Suze's younger sister Jessica Jones who was in 3rd year (I knew Suze would be surprised to hear she had tried out).

Potter made them each hit to see what kind of strength and aim they had while Black stood next to him, obviously making comments about who he thought would be the best decision.

The 2nd year went first, although he had quite a good aim but was clearly lacking the strength needed to hit the Bludger far enough. After him went Lydia Brooks who clearly was quite talented and I could tell that she was probably one of the favourites after she managed to hit the Bludger so far that it went flying off towards the forest. Next went Simon Cardel, he had the opposite problem to the 2nd year as he had no aim but copious amounts of strength. The two Justinians tried out next, each could just about stay on their broom but had no talent at all with the Bludgers and were quickly sent away by Potter, looking very disappointed.

Justine herself wasn't too bad actually, in fact if she had practiced before she came then she might've been in with a chance, but her aim wasn't that great and she hadn't got enough strength to hit the Bludger half as far as Lydia. Suze's sister was probably the only other person who seriously challenged Lydia Brooks; she had a surprisingly good aim and a fair amount of strength.

Eventually, after much deliberation and a long conversation with Black, Potter decided on Lydia Brooks, although told Jessica to try out again in a few years time when Lydia left because she was very good. The rest of the people who had tried out for the Beater position left, including Justine. I had expected her to put up a big argument, but she simply accepted it and blew a kiss to Black (that he pretended not to see) before leaving and taking the rest of her friends with her.

There were five of us who were trying out for the position of Chaser; Jeremy Reynolds, Joseph Matthews, a 4th year called Alisa Mckibben who looked incredibly timid and small for a fourth year, a 2nd year called Scott Crawley and me.

Reynolds and Matthews were by far the biggest, but this seemed to limit them in some ways because it meant they weren't as agile, although they could send the Quaffle quite a way and both scored four goals each out of five. Alisa was actually very fast and nimble, although possibly better suited to the position of Seeker than Chaser as she couldn't hit the Quaffle very well and ended up only getting two goals. Crawly was also quite small like Alisa, but he had more strength and a better aim and was able to get four goals, but he was still quite young and appeared to be very immature, judging by the things he shouted to his friends who were watching in the stands. My trial went very well, and I was glad to see that all my practising over the summer had paid off, Potter seemed quite pleasantly surprised when I was able to get all five of my goals.

After I scored my final goal, I heard a cheer from the stands and looked over to see Lily and Suze standing there applauding me, they had clearly woken up and decided to come and support me.

I was very pleased when Potter appointed me as the Chaser, it had been my dream since starting Hogwarts to join the Gryffindor Quidditch Team and now it had finally come true I was ecstatic. I skipped back to the common room with Lily and Suze, talking excitedly.

"I'm so happy right now," I stated "I can't believe I got in!"

"Well done," Lily congratulated me "We told you that you could do it!"

We spent the rest of the day in celebration mode; going down to the kitchen and fetching some cake and taking advantage of the good weather to go out into the grounds and basking in the sunny rays.

That evening we were joined in the common room by the Marauders, something which had never happened before and showed how much had changed over these past few days. Black and Potter came over, with their usual confident swagger, sitting in the arm chairs across from where we sitting near the fire. Pettigrew and Lupin (or Remus as Lily always insisted on calling him to annoy Potter) followed them too**.**

"Congratulations," Potter had clearly decided not to stick the same tactic as when he was last around Lily, staying quiet, and appeared to be in very good spirits "I never knew you flew, but you were really good."

I wasn't particularly good at responding to compliments so I tried to shrug it off. "Well, I didn't really have anything better to do once I'd got back from Wales this summer, so I a lot of time practising."

"The best way to spend a summer," Potter said proudly, as if he had invented Quidditch, although in his mind being Captain was probably something akin to inventing the sport.

"I could think of a few better ways," Lily murmured to Suze, although clearly meaning for Potter to hear.

"Oh Yes?" Potter challenged, the conversation began taking a familiar route and quickly turning into an argument. "What, like studying your Charms textbook the whole summer?"

Lily's face was quite hard to read at that moment, it was as if she was almost unsure as to whether she was pleased that Potter was retaliating, but was also disappointed that he hadn't changed since last year.

"At least it would be more enjoyable than prancing around on a broomstick," Lily retorted, knowing if there was one thing that Potter couldn't resist it was jibes at his precious Quidditch.

"So you think West getting onto the team is 'prancing around'," I had to admit he had Lily there. I wasn't particularly offended, I knew Lily only pretended to hate Quidditch so much because of Potter.

Lily spluttered "No!" She exclaimed, glancing worriedly at me. "Of course not, Heidi plays Quidditch very well, it's just that you struggle to play properly with such a large head." She sounded almost sympathetic towards the end, but there was an underlying feeling that she was pleased with the way she had turned the situation around.

Potter raised his eyebrows and opened his mouth to reply but Black cut him off "Who wants a game of exploding snap?"

Lupin, Pettigrew, Suze and I quickly agreed and although Potter and Lily stopped arguing verbally, they continued by glaring at each other.

After 5 games of Exploding Snap, 4 slightly sizzling eyebrows, lots of glares between Lily and Potter and a funny moment where Black's prized locks caught on fire and in his panic he ended up talking in a high pitched voice, a complete contrast to his usual deep bass, while we all laughed at him, we decided to start doing some homework; or at least Lupin, Suze and Lily thought it was a good idea and the rest of us reluctantly agreed.

I found it was actually a lot more fun doing our homework in a bigger group. I mean it was still homework, but I could ask Lily, Suze or Lupin for help or advice, while Black and Potter entertained the group by telling us funny anecdotes about their 'daring' escapades and many detentions.

"So there I was," Half an hour later and Potter had us all enrapt with his story; our homework forgotten, "standing in the entrance hall at four o'clock in the morning, covered in this purple slime and then I see Filtch's shadow come round the corner," he widened his eyes dramatically "so I quickly jump behind this statue and manage to avoid him by about half an inch."

Potter grinned at Black before continuing "then suddenly Filch swings round and I thought I was done for, but he glances around menacingly for a moment or two before carrying on along the corridor. It was a very close call."

Everyone seemed fairly impressed with Potter's story; except Lily.

"What's so great about that Potter?" She said impatiently, clearly she was still annoyed with him from their earlier argument, "You broke about 5 school rules, all in the name of a stupid prank which caused lessons to be cancelled 'for a laugh' and then somehow managed to get away with it. If it wasn't 3 years ago I would report you for this."

She crossed her arms defiantly and the smirk faded from Potter's face. "It was just a prank Lily," for a moment it shocked me to hear Potter calling Lily by her first name- we had a long standing agreement between us and the Marauders to only use surnames.

This and the humble tone of Potter's voice obviously shocked Lily for a moment because she didn't seem to be able to reply.

There was a very awkward silence. I racked my brain trying to think of something to say. "So what did everyone get for question four on the Herbology homework?" I asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Erm," Lupin responded first "Alihotsy I think- if that's the one where you become hysterical if you eat the leaves."

Suze checked her sheet and nodded "that's what I got too."

Gradually the atmosphere became less tense, although it never completely got back to the relaxed jokey feeling it had before. Potter and Black had supposedly completely finished all their homework in about half an hour, even though they had the same as the rest of us- still this was Potter and Black; they were incredibly bright when they actually tried.

**So- Quidditch has been introduced and more James and Lily tension...**  
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